Visitors Review

(2012-05-26 00:13)

Good idea horrible story execution and very predictable

Anyone giving this movie high marks must be a paid review or hasn't seen too many movies. Now putting all the ethics, don't play God, don't mess with Mother Nature high horse preachy stuff aside let's review the movie and not the message.If it wasn't for the high dollar special effects the quality of the acting and script would be worthy of a SyFy Channel Original B movie. The script was so full of holes and dead-ends that even my 'I don't like sci-fi-thriller-horrors movies' wife was laughing throughout this film. The concept for the movie was great and had tons of possibilities but failed to deliver. Oscar winner Adrien Brody (Clive) even failed to deliver a quality performance and Sarah Polley (Elsa) couldn't act her way out of a wet paper bag. Both the characters: Clive and Elsa were two of the most unintentionally dysfunctional people I've seen in a while, working for a large research lab named N.E.R.D. to synthesize new proteins, chemicals, or something for drugs by splicing DNA and making new critters, but you never splice human DNA or do you? That's the premise of the movie... Frankenstein meets Ed Wood.****MAJOR SPOILER BELOW...****Not that you could spoil such a really predictable movie, but you've been told.First for a couple of many story problems - Throughout the movie Clive keeps referring to some issue Elsa has with her dead mother but while this seems to be a important part of the movie and Elsa character development it is never reveled what these issues are or what her mother did, no back story, no flashback, nothing - we are left to guess what this big piece of the puzzle might be.Now briefly on Fred and Ginger two flesh tone land living sea slug cucumber looking things that they designed and made/created - they had both male and female thing and they were all lovey dovey in the lab then later while they showed a big room full of scientist, investors and other in the need to know, Ginger had changed into a male and when they exposed Fred I and Fred II (formerly Ginger) to each other and you guessed it there was a big flesh-tone-land-living-sea-slug-cucumber looking thing fight in front of all these people and somehow these two small dog size creatures can in their struggle create enough force to bust several bolts loose from the floor holding there cage causing it to tip over and splatter enough blood on the members of the audience to fill a elephant. Which again predictably the audience flees as if King Kong broke free. Neither of these two noted great scientist can explain how this happened to the labs bosses - never mind the fact anyone with the Discovery Channel would know there are real lifeforms (fish, frogs, invertebrates) that can change there sex completely, but these two geniuses are clueless to this fact. OK. But not to worry it's not their fault it's the stock Shemp inept brother of Clive who didn't notice the sex change of this land living sea slug, Ginger.I ask in this day and age how many high tech science labs are devoid of nearly all surveillance cameras? Zero that's how many... but yet Clive and Elsa can sneak Dren (the creature played by Delphine Chanéac) out of the place unseen and unrecorded - OK I'll let that slide. I'll even let all of the massive damage to the lab and high tech equipment by Dren go unanswered by Clive and Elsa to the stereotypical money grubbing bosses. However, as the movies moves along Clive goes from wanting to kill Dren as he suddenly developed morals ethics completely absent before all the way to being seduced by Dren and having sex with her as Dren saw Elsa and Clive having sex earlier, but ever so predictably Else walks in while they are getting it on to which Clive goes back to their house to explain - well Elsa sets stewing and the argument last... oh about 30 seconds. On what planet do you get caught screwing around and the fight about it last 30 seconds? Better yet screwing around with some lab created potpourri of DNA? Yeah right! Elsa goes from the I want to be a mother, my clock is ticking to Mommy Dearest in 0.1 seconds and now wanting to kill Dren (perhaps this was Elsa's Mommy issues). Did I mention... Dren found a cat and loved the cat but Elsa takes the cat away stating we don't always get what we want (like a good movie) then feeling bad from her issues in unanswered childhood returns the cat to Dren, but Dren is mad at Elsa and kills the cat with her stinger tail and then try's to kill Elsa with her tail stinger thing and Elsa decides to cut it off only after completely stripping Dren nude for ever reason. Oh yeah the gratuitous nude shot of Dren's tiny breast. Well Dren who has gone through a few rapid metamorphoses already (eyes, legs, arms, aqua lung, wings but not vocal cords go figure) is now seemingly sick and seemingly dies well with 30-40 minutes left in the movie you know it's not dead. So they bury her behind the barn they were hiding her in - suddenly evil male boss shows up wanting to see it - as Clive's predictably inept brother spills the beans and the boss claims it's the companies property - guess what Dren is not dead and has pulled a Ginger and changed into a male comes up out of the ground and gargoyle like flies from atop the barn and starts killing all the males there which is left unanswered for the rest of the movie - guess it was murder covered up by N.E.R.D. (the name of the lab). Well now Dren takes off and Clive and Elsa go hunting it in the forest and it's always a cliche foggy, smokey dark forest - Dren who has DNA from Elsa catches her in the forest and rapes her... see in movies - men are seduced and women are raped it's in the script in some sort of self incest violation and as you'd expect Clive shows up and tries to kill Dren who as you'd expect grew back it's stinger (duh) and kills Clive... well Elsa now grabs a big rock and smashes Dren's head in we think... you never see the dead Dren. So back at the lab other evil female boss offers Else a bunch of money to keep quite as some compound the lab was needing was created by Elsa from Dren's blood/fluid earlier that will save the lab from closure. Elsa signs the agreement and then stands up and you guessed it she is pregnant, but with who's seed Clive or Dren? Do I smell a Splice II? Yes I think I do and it's sure to be worse than the first.****END SPOILER****I left out a few parts so I don't completely ruin it for you but the major points are hit - needless to say that the movie is predictable from start to finish nothing really new here, but in all fairness we enjoyed the movie it was fun to watch, not scary, not really original (man plays God bad things happen plot line), lots of dead ends story lines, undeveloped characters and cliche's, but watchable at least once. Fortunately for me I rented it for only a $1.50 - if I had paid $10-$15 to see it in the theater I'd feel ripped off, so I'm giving it two stars... one for the special effects which were decent and one for not completely wasting my time by providing a few absurd laughs. It's nothing I'll be adding to my collection unless I find it really, really cheap. Watchable, just rent it before you decide to buy or skip it you'll not be missing much.

shaun-woods (2012-05-25 09:40)

Didn't really splice together too well for me...

Whilst I sort of enjoyed this movie at first, after the initial"Awwwww" moment, I felt myself being taken on the usual Hollywoodemotional roller-coaster. Instead of raising a genuinely adult andfreethinking question about cloning, genetics, stem cells (and all thatother scientific stuff), it spoon fed me, like so many other sciencefiction films before this.There where plenty of poignant moments within this movie where theycould have taken the viewer on an existential journey of questionablemorals, the science vs religion question and the whole Darwiniantheory... However, it just went for the sucker punch.. "The 3 s's",Shock, Show and Say! If you like Science Fiction for it's escape from reality, it's lavishbackdrops and ability to arouse the eye with scenes of bizarreness,then this film may well be for you...But if you are like me and like Science Fiction to give you food formoral thought, question the very reality we perceive, transport us intoa world that give countless reams of possibilities... Then I suggestyou save your money, and go and rewatch Jurassic Park, Species or evenAvatar...This movie started out well, it really did, but it panned out to besomething of a frankenstein re-told story, with more frills thancurtain.

Michael O'Keefe (2012-05-24 16:21)

Catastrophic mistake. Short of mesmerizing.

Vincenzo Natali directs this film of unruly science,dysfunction andto-the-limit weirdness. Clive(Adrien Brody)and Elsa(Sarah Polley)aretreated as the superstars of generic engineering. Searching for ahybrid that could take giant leaps in modern medicines; the pair slipinto a clandestine experiment that introduces animal DNA with that of ahuman source. Clive and Elsa introduce into the world Dren(DelphicChaneac), who evolves very rapidly...so fast the situation gets out ofcontrol.SPLICE is rated R with strong sexual content, language and graphicsci-fi violence. Morality and family dysfunction mixes with horror.Chaneac is no less than spellbinding. The cast also includes: BrandonMcGibbon, David Hewlett and Simona Maicanescu.

hitek_man_vn (2012-05-24 02:30)

Don't let the trailer fool you !!!

First of all, I am so sorry to people who consider this movie awesome.IMO, this movie has a lot of moral flaws. 2 scientists create acreature, the creature is their daughter obviously. Then the father hassex with the creature because she is hot??? This is a bad joke. Thenthe creature changes its sex to a male, then the male creature rapesthe woman scientist and makes her pregnant. What the heck people thinknowadays? Ran out of ideas already? The trailer makes the movie worthwatching, it promises a full set of action. But let me tell you, youwill have less than 10 minutes of action. The movie slowly processeswith the growing of the creature.Please consider this is my personal thinking. I don't mean to offendanyone.

bill_b4 (2012-05-22 18:23)

Seriously Having A Hard Time Trying To Remember A More Unpleasant Cinematic Experience

On our way out of the theater, we were all trying to recall a moviethat might have been worse. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon? The firstHulk movie? Sex And The City? Bring It On - In It To Win It? Jaws 3 In3D? I would watch them all again before wasting any more time on thistrue pile of waste. Right now I am resisting the urge to suppress myviolated recollection of this movie so I can warn the viewingpublic...and I can honestly say you would be better off getting aticket for ANY OTHER random movie than this one. I do not make thatstatement lightly. I have been a Sarah Polley fan since "Go", an AdrienBrody fan since "The Pianist", AND a Vincenzo Natali fan since "Cube",but stock in all their future cinematic endeavors will now be calledinto question because this movie was SO distasteful. "Why?" you ask?There are so many reason, I really don't know where to begin. First ofall, I'm extremely disappointed because the movie touts itself as aSci-Fi thriller. There is very little science-fiction, and the moviewas hardly scary. All nine people seated in the movie theater (whichshould have been my first hint this movie sucked) winced more as amatter of the unpleasant sexual activities on the screen than anycinematic suspense. Seriously. Imagine Jurassic Park where thezoo-keepers have sex with the dinosaurs, and you have an idea of themajor plot elements of this movie. And that's just the beginning, but Ireally have to end my testimony there because the movie was just thatunpleasant. Save your money and go see anything...or see nothing.Either one is a better choice than wasting your time and money on thismovie.

(2012-05-22 08:01)

Splice

`Splice' is an average sci-fi horror film about what happens when two scientists start playing around with genes and nature and the dire consequences.Clive and Elsa are two scientists who splice DNA from different animals to make proteins for the medical industry. When they secretly splice human DNA into the mix the result is a weird hybrid, who grows at an alarming rate and has unique characteristics that are at first intriguing and which quickly become more alarming.The special effects in this film are reasonable and the plot, whilst predictable and clichéd is entertaining enough. The acting leaves a lot to be desired and I have seen Brody act a lot better than what he offers us in this film. This film feels a bit flat to be honest. It's not the worst film I've ever seen, but it doesn't offer anything new and it plods along without any real zest or flair. It feels like it is a `sci-fi by-numbers' film and the director doesn't try to do anything new or original with the concept.Never-the-less it is worth a viewing if you can catch it on TV for free or as part of a rental package. It isn't quite as bad as some people have said, but it's not far off!Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

Bob Bloom (2012-05-22 02:08)

Splice" is a hit-or-miss feature that leans slightly on the hit side. It tries to sound important, while titillating its audience.

brian-derby157 (2012-05-21 17:52)

Did I just watch that?

I can officially confirm, I have now just seen the worse film I haveEVER seen. It was just so laughable, I did think at one point it was acomedy, but no, they were deadly serious. All the actors wereunconvincing, the script was such a joke, and nobody on this planet cansuspend belief to the degree where any of this drivel would be even theslightest bit plausible. However, all that aside, what on earth wasAdrian Brody doing in this less than a B movie film. This guy has wonan Oscar for goodness sake. Is this really the best he can find to do?Utter drivel. There was a film called Plan 9 from Outer Space yearsago. Compared to Splice, Plan 9 seems like Gone with the Wind. When Icame out of the cinema, people were just looking at each otherdumbstruck. Toy Story 3 was showing at the same complex, and I feelsure, without exception, that all of us wished we had seen thatinstead.

blandiefam (2012-05-21 00:29)

Splice was badly spliced (edited)

I am not sure what this movie was trying to accomplish. It has notmoral implications and it lumber's along like Frankenstien's monster inendless pointless drooling fodder. I think the sexual scene was stupidand ridiculous. Another waste of money for the sake of art. The end isdumb and it seems they edited the crap out of the story leaving keyplot points on the cutting floor. Not sure why one would say this was agood movie. It's like a Jerry Lewis movie done wrong. Brody's acting isonce again unbelievable and it seems as if he would do any movie forthe money. The actress playing Dren did a superb mime job and it wastotally unnecessary to have the sex scene and the rape scene. It couldhave been so much better, but instead they chose to ham it up for thepreviews. How can those small wings lift the creature and allow it tocarry a person over 150lbs?

Brent Trafton (2012-05-20 09:35)

21st Century Frankenstein

"Splice" is the best monster movie to come out in the last 20 years.It is an obvious nod to the Frankenstein movies of the 30's and 40's.The lead characters are called Clive and Elsa after the actors ColinClive and Elsa Lancaster from "The Bride of Frankenstein." Like "TheBride of Frankenstein," "Splice" can be funny and scary at the sametime."Splice" is a film where the less you know ahead of time, the better.If you want a detailed synopsis, you will need to read someone else'sreview. Basically, Clive and Elsa are genetic scientists combiningdifferent types of animal DNA together trying to find cures for humandiseases. When pressured for results, they add human DNA to the mix.Suffice it to say, it goes wrong; horribly wrong.Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley help raise "Splice" above the standardhorror fare. It was especially nice seeing Sarah Polley in a fun filmfor a change after seeing her in so many heavy films. They both seem tobe having a good time in this one."Splice" is more in the style of old fashioned horror films that relymore on suspense rather than gore or shock. It's also not afraid tojoke around and wink at the camera. If you want to see a film about madscientists and scary creatures, you should not miss "Splice."

Paul Haakonsen (2012-05-19 22:17)

Unique in every way, but...

Okay, this was a movie that took me by surprise. I hadn't even heard ofit, and just came across it by sheer random luck.The story and plot is simply genius, and this is something that shouldhave been put to the screen a long, long time ago. For this movie, sortof think in the terms of mixing "The Fly" and "Species" together, andthrow in some extra spices. It was a super nice storyline, but I wouldhave liked to see more about the morals and ethical dilemmas raised bygene manipulation, splicing and genetic research. The movie justbrushed easily over this and paid it little heed. That was a shame.As for the acting and cast, well I would say that the little cast thatthe movie was centered about really carried their roles and characterswell and made the movie believable and interesting to watch. And thecreature, Dren, was really portrayed so well, that you started to feelfor her and become attached to her.The creature design was phenomenal and very nicely detailed, as alwayswhen Nicotero is involved with something. From the very first momentyou saw the creature and up until the very end, it was all cool andnice to look at. However, the wings were a tad too much for my liking.But it worked well enough to show the different aspects of mixinggenetics from various species.The last 15 minutes of the movie, however, were painful to get through.The story totally collapsed here and it would have served the movie somuch better had they decided to do something else. It was a bit toosassy and too far out there. And the ending, well you saw that coming amile away. I would have rated the movie higher, had it not been for thelast 15 minutes and the typical Hollywood ending.But overall, this movie is definitely one you should sit down andwatch. It is a unique story and filled with nice effects and details.There is a constant flow to the story, so you are never left bored. Andthere are a bunch of thrills throughout the movie as well. So watchthis movie, you won't be disappointed.

Matt Risley (2012-05-19 13:23)

Natali's direction and vision is as nuanced as the story's tone, and while the plot beats are familiar to genre fans, Splice manages to evolve the genre to new heights.

yakuzaplacemat1215 (2012-05-17 22:03)

Has the feel of "ET"

When my wife dragged me to this movie I thought I'd be bored. Thetrailers show nothing except the little monster growing quickly andswimming around happily. What I did not expect is the wonderful, andentertaining background story.The acting is well-done by the entire the "creature" is cute andbelievable with enough "awwwwwwww" moments, but not too much to becomeredundant. I read about the legend of Loch Ness when I was about 6years old and imagined and fantasized how awesome it would be to seeand witness something like that - this is probably as close as I willever come - so in essence, I've waited 30 years for this movie - and myfamily and I enjoyed it very much.I would recommend this film to anyone who might not fully understandthe U.S.s enormous challenges in the war on terror. Although there isno real violence in this movie there is some shooting. In fact there isa scene with cannon fire that might scare young children.

(2012-05-17 13:10)

Fantastic for science fiction

The movie does a jarring, engaging, and impressionable job of exposing the disturbing consequences (with a nod to potential benefits) when companies/individuals start mucking with nature.

(2012-05-17 08:38)

You must be kidding!

This review is from: Splice (DVD) The movie was ok until zoophilia takes place. Then after that you either conclude that you have serious mental problems or your press the stop button. Hopefully I did the latter. The weird creature was on big signs everywhere in LA. It has a kind of a shocking look, kind of like a baby with birth defects. Yes, you heard me correctly, this was showing everywhere in commercial signs around LA. I can respect people's taste for "art" but that means I am also entitled for mine: Disgusting.

(2012-05-16 18:44)

Crossing new lines of stupidity

Hands down, this has to be one of the worst sci-fi/horror movies I have ever seen.SPLICE casually dissects a fascinating and controversial element of science--genetic engineering. It had a fairly large budget. A top-notch acting crew. It was co-produced by the awesome Guillermo Del Toro. Plus it's been praised by critics and audiences alike. There was no way for me to expect such a horrific disaster. Seriously, there were so many serious developments in this film that I was constantly cracking up at inappropriate times. Some just unbelievably silly stuff. The filmmakers had high hopes here but really created a monster turd. The problems with this film start from the onset and just metamorphosize from there. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are never too convincing as the top-notch genetic scientists. It's not really their fault though, as this script makes them out more like underground hobo science nerds. They drive a ramshackle 70's Gremlin and live in a cruddy apartment. I guess with the bad economy they were forced to take their jobs making minimum wage.So these two drastically underpaid researchers have fun splicing and dicing around in the billion dollar lab they work at. They make an incredible medical breakthrough as they create a new life form. The wormy creatures they conjour up look like cute little Tremors babies. These slimy little buggers are strangely interesting, but really amount to nothing more than a scientific stepping stone.The two genius gene doctors realize they are on the edge of something so much more. With visions of possible cures for Alzheimer's disease or cancer, they want to incorporate human DNA into their experiments. Unfortunately their boss shuts down this plan real quick. So not fair.Well, this doesn't slow the mad scientists from their medical pursuits. Heck, it's for the benefit of mankind. Luckily the pharmaceutical company pays little attention to their work or the resources they use. So they buckle down for the rest of the night and are able to create a new half-human life form named Dren. Boo-yah! Dren rapidly develops some breasts and a lethal stinger tail, causing all sorts of unexpected problems.I really thought this story sped through all the scientific developments way too fast, making this questionable outcome even more implausible. The making of Dren seemed way too easy. Not to mention the fact that keeping this mutant baby a secret was way too far-fetched. Still, at this point the story was holding my interest. It was not until the couple smuggle their creation out of the lab that it reaches new levels of absurdity.Dren's new home is in an abandoned farmhouse. Instead of running more tests on this creature, both of the doctors become emotionally attached to their project. Hugs, kisses, dressing it(her?)up, applying makeup, teaching Dren to slow dance...it gets so dang preposterous. I don't want to give too much away, but the nonsense here gets even more shockingly bizarre and flat-out stupid. So many ludicrous moments, this movie derails like a bad train wreck. I couldn't help but glare at the screen with utter disgust and disbelief. SPLICE has a very interesting premise, as it juggles scientific discovery with ethics and consequences. I also enjoy seeing the horror genre receive critical acclaim. But I can't hop on this goofy, deranged bandwagon. It violates a very serious genre of sci-fi horror with unforgivable missteps. I'm telling you, it's bad, bad, BAD! SPLICE has high aspirations but ends up being unintentionally funny.

(2012-05-15 13:01)

not good at all

It was unorganized, disgusting, and a waist of time. It was good at thebeginning but towards the end killed it for the whole movie. The sexscene with the creature was disgusting and unnecessary, what was wrongwith him? And the rape scene was also disgusting. At the end of themovie I was just like wtf?! Horrible movie, will never watch again. Thetwo scientist are crazy. The female scientist thought that was herdaughter and started to take care of her (DREN) and the male scientistdidn't want her at first but towards the end had sex with her?! Reallyeffed up movie, it was sick. Who in their right minds would haveintimate relations with a creature? Do not recommend to anyone. Verybad movie.

PolakPride80 (2012-05-14 14:09)

Don't waste your money or bandwidth.

I was laughing my ass off in this film as soon as the two worm-thingsattacked each other on stage and splattered copious amounts of blood onthe audience. It was just so predictable and over-the-top. The plot isfull of holes. The characters act irrationally throughout the wholething and they definitely don't act like scientists. To say there isinsufficient characterization for their changes of heart and mind is anunderstatement. They are just flat out not believable. The film is noteven entertaining in a fun, sit-back-and-enjoy-the-mayhem-unfold waylike Cloverfield. It's just terrible. I stopped watching about half-waythrough. This movie is just one more piece of evidence that Roger Eberthas bad taste in sci-fi.

sam-sicard (2012-05-13 22:43)

Yuck. IMDb rating fooled me once again.

This is one of the most disturbing movies for a number of reasons Icannot mention without spoiling it. Although it bombed at the boxoffice, I wanted to trust the IMDb rating. The preview seemedinteresting enough to draw me to the theater. A couple good thingsabout this movie are the acting (more mediocre) and the specialeffects.Please don't see this movie out of curiosity. This movie will leave youfeeling disgusted, empty and violated. I think I would rather havesucked it up and saw Sex in the City 2 or Shrek 4. Lol, but still notMarmaduke.

Jordan Hoffman (2012-05-13 02:51)

Splice is a genre picture that, almost without you noticing it, gets under your skin for both creepy crawly and emotional gains.